Toy building construction and forms



Jan. 14, 1958 w. VOM NORDEN ,3

TOY BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND FQRMS BYWLL) Von M of/v M 6. m

United States Patent TOY BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND FORMS Willy Vom Norden, Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Application February 10, 1955, Serial No. 487,495

3 Claims. (Cl. 25-121) The present invention relates to a toy building construction having a series of construction elements which can be assembled to provide a toy structure. The inven tion may also be utilized to produce a wide variety of shapes and forms. This is a primary object of the inven tion.

Another object of the invention is to provide an interlocking group of structural elements that may readily be assembled by children of all ages and by students in trade schools.

A further object of the invention is to provide cooperating structural elements that are simple, cheap and durable; said elements having interlocking features that will withstand ordinary impact or vibration.

With these and other objects in view, my invention resides in the combinations, arrangements and functional relationships of elements as set forth in the following specification and the appended claims.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled toy in one of its forms. Fig. 2 is a. similar view with the superstructure removed. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the structural elements and Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are similar views. Fig. 7 is a partial plan view of one corner of Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a partial view of another corner of Fig. 1. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a group of forms that may be produced by my invention and Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a typical mold element.

Numeral 12 designates in general the structure of Fig. 1, the same consisting of a base plate 14, made of rigid plastic, wood, metal or any other material found suitable. Base plate 14 is preferably rectangular having side plates 15 and 16 (see Fig. 2) which support upright side walls 17 and 18 and end plates 15a and 16a, which support the upright end walls 19 and 20 which completes the hollow base member 22, said end walls being fixed to side walls 17 and 18 and corner strips 23 and 24 at 25.

A top wall 27 rests upon the upper edges of walls 17, 13, 19 and 2d and is fixed thereto to form a complete base unit 28, as shown in Fig. 2. The base plate 14 is fixed to side walls 17 and 18 but the end walls 19 and 26 are spaced from said base plate as at 30; the corner strips 23 and 24 serving as spacers.

The hollow space under top wall 27 may be used as a mold to form rectangular parts shown generally in Fig. 9 at 32; or the space may be used for storage of ac cessory parts.

As shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 6, the base unit 28 may be provided with a superstructure 29, shown completed in Fig. 1, by placing end gates 34 and 35 into the space be- 1' tween strips 23 and 24 and into space 30. This operation is facilitated by bevelling lower edges of gates 34 and 35 at 34a and 35: so as to slip past the tie strips 36 and 37, which are fixed to base plate 14 and strips 23 and 24.

End gate 34 is provided with a central vertical groove 38, a hand grip 39 and ribs 40 extending vertically, near the outer edges of said gate to a midway point below the top edge.

End gate 35 is provided with vertical grooves 41 and 42, the same extending downward from the top edge at points that may be equally spaced from the outer edges and from each other. A central groove (not shown) may also be provided if desired. Gate 35 is also provided with a hand grip 35a and a pair of short projecting pins 46 and 47 extending from the outer face of said gate near the outer edges thereof, at equal spaces from the top edge.

As in Figs. 1, 4, and 5, side gates 49 and 50 are used to complete the superstructure. Gate 49 is provided with vertical grooves 51, one being centrally located and the other near gate 35. Adjacent gate 34, the gate 49 is provided with a corner post 52, the same having a side flange 53 fixed to said gate. A vertical groove 54 is formed in the inner face 53a of post 52, the same being adapted to interlock with ribs 40 of gate 34 in assembled position, as in Fig. 1.

The opposite ends of gates 49 and 50 are provided with enlarged lugs 56, see Fig. 8, the same being fixed to said gates and tongue and grooved thereto as at 57. The inner faces of lugs 56 are parallel to gate 35 and flush therewith, and are provided with hand grips 56a. Notches 58 are formed in lugs 56 and are aligned with pins 46 and 47 for engagement therewith. Side gates 49 and 50 are formed of material having sufiicient flexibility so that lugs 56 may be sprung into position. Groove 51a is formed centrally of gate 50.

The superstructure formed of said gates 49 and 50 and end gates 34 and 35 can be used as part of a toy building or it may be used as a single mold or a series of molds by placing partitions p into grooves 38, 41, 42, 51 and 51a.

Fig. 10 shows a form of partition 60 that may be formed of two identical halves 61 and 62, the same having a central, cylindrical mold cavity 63. The halves 6i and 62 are bevelled to facilitate entry into grooves 51 and 51a before applying a suitable mold material into the cavities. Parts such as 65 and 66 may thus be formed. Parts 67 and 68 may also be formed by the use of suitable partitions (not shown) in conjunction with grooves 38, 41, 42, 51 and 51a.

It is evident that I have provided a novel means of building toy structures, and at the same time molding parts that may be used for erecting a wide variety of other structures.

Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangements of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. In an device of the character described, in combination, a base unit having a rectangular base plate, said base plate having relatively narrow side and end boundary plates and a relatively large opening there between, side walls fixed to the side boundary plates, corner strips fixed to said side walls, end walls fixed to said corner strips and side walls, a top wall fixed to the top edges of the side and end walls to form a mold cavity, tie strips fixed to said end boundary plates and corner strips to form a space between said tie strips and end Walls, end gates adapted to be mounted in said space between the tie strips and end walls and extending substantially above said top wall, spaced pins projecting from one of said end gates, ribs provided on the other end gate, side gates resting upon the top wall of said base unit and having means for engaging the pins and ribs of said end gates.

2. The subject matter of claim 1, and the means for engaging the pins and ribs of said end gates consisting of corner posts fixed to one end of said side gates, said posts having side flanges to engage said side gates, spaced free flanges provided with inner faces having grooves for the reception of the said ribs, the other end of said side gates having notched lugs fixed to said gates, said notched lugs being adapted to be sprung into locking engagement with the pins of the said other end gate, whereby a major mold cavity is formed by the top wall of said base unit the side and end gates.

3. The subject matter of claim 2, and the said side and end gates having grooves in their inner faces for the re- 4 ception of partition members whereby the major mold cavity of the super structure may be divided into a plurality of minor cavities to produce a wide variety of prodnets in various shapesv References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 733,735 McNamee July 14, 1903 796,195 Dickey Aug. 1, 1905 843,087 Jensen Feb. 5, 1907 1,512,905 Bunker Oct. 28, 1924 1,640,080 Hieb et a1 Aug. 23, 1927 1,685,188 Beckwith Sept. 25, 1928 2,366,532 Jones et a1. Jan. 2, 1945 

